Twenty One Years in PR - What Hasn't Changed

This year marks my twenty-first year in marketing and media relations.  Much has changed.  In fact, I would argue that the face of media relations has changed more than most industries.  When I started out as a rookie under the brilliant tutelage of Andrew Burroughs, now a lawyer in New Jersey and still a close friend of mine, certain things held true – that today are almost laughable:

·         We planned and successfully held numerous press conferences; each well attended by the city’s (Toronto’s) top business and telecomm reporters.    Among others, I ensured the speakers were PERFECTLY prepped (and pretty much scripted down to the minute), the coffee was hot and the muffins ready.  A press conference today???  Huh?? What’s that??

·         Sending out a news release entailed me literally pulling a chair up to the fax machine --- one by one I faxed each reporter the news release- and since there were 300 or so reporters on my list, sending out the news release literally took hours (6 to be exact).  Then one day in 1992, the company for which I worked got a new fax machine on which you could create distribution lists.  So, I did – and that saved me hours and hours every time I faxed out a news release after that --- Woot!!  Today, it’s all email.  Tell a PR newbie to fax out releases today?  You may as well tell ‘em to whistle dixie

That said– and based on some recent (somewhat disturbing) conversations I’ve had over the past few months, I wanted to set the record straight (at least a little straighter than it is right now) about certain things in PR that have not (and likely never will) changed:

1.      Nothing in this world is free.  And neither is PR. – I’ve had numerous conversations in the past few months where potential clients seem to think that PR is free, or that indeed I work for free.   Well, you’re wrong on both counts. Totally wrong!  Ever gone to the grocery store, filled your cart with food and at the checkout was told you didn’t have to pay? Never happened to me either actually. 

2.       PR is all about credibility.  Today it’s more important than ever before.  More and more, consumers are becoming wary and skeptical of advertising. Advertising messages seem to keep becoming less credible in this new fast paced, internet-centric culture. How many ads along the sides of web pages are barely glanced at because you know there’s a catch involved? How many spam emails advertising this or that do you have in your inbox at this very moment? Consumers are automatically on the defensive about being sold something they don’t want or need. Public relations experts ensure information is presented – credibly and legitimately.

3.       The media owes you (or anyone else for that matter) nothing more than common decency.  I don’t care how hot sh%t you are, (or how hot sh&t you think you are).    Earlier this week, I spoke to someone who seemed to think the media owed him coverage, simply because a. he work up this morning or b.  he opened his doors for business or c.  his company have won a few quite prestigious awards – you get the picture …  Well, let me tell you buddy, the media owes you no more decency than two strangers on two passing ships somewhere in the Pacific in the middle of the night owe one another.

4.       You gotta start off somewhere – and any good media coverage is better than none at all.  Same said person to whom I spoke this week said he’s only interested in profile pieces in major pubs – and nothing else.  And that he gets them all the time.  Well, that’s all relative and dependent on how you quantify “all the time”.  Said client – you may want to take a somewhat humbler approach!   Think Apple got profiles before it was well known?  Or Microsoft? Fly in the ointment is that said prospective client turned down an on-topic, sweet-spot interview in none-other-than The Street Journal, despite me telling him twice that the Journal is the single most influential news pub in the world – yup – the entire world.    I don’t think he heard a single word I said. Oh well --- sucks. 

5.       Social media is not: a substitute for a sales force; the solution to all your business issues or better than PR.  Yeah, I do agree social media (when part of a strategic, integrated business plan) is very  effective – but social media does not sell, per se.  It communicates.  It coalesces and it unites.  I repeat – it does not sell.  Second, as should be painfully obvious (but I guess sometimes isn’t) – social media is a communications channel – that’s it.  It will never solve your business issues.  Finally, comparing social media to PR is a misnomer.  Social media works hand-in-hand with PR.  The one washes the other.  Saying social media is better than PR is like saying a strong defense is better than a strong offense in name-the-sport.  They work together.  Having one is neither better nor worse than having the other. 

6.       Getting PR is easy.  Yeah --- right!  Realistically, (and sadly), pretty much every trade publication, and newspaper is shrinking as a result of sluggish ad sales.  And guess what – as the pubs shrink – so there is less and less space for editorial.  Makes sense?  Let me know if you’re still struggling with this one and I will gladly re-explain (for free). 

Make no mistake, there’s no sour-grapes here.  It’s just that I wanted to set the record a little straighter.  Have I?

Cheers to a great 2013!